A Simple Method for Drawing Triangles in Inkscape

Written By: eyedrawit

I had been using Inkscape for several years before figuring out that I could use the Star/Polygon Tool to make triangles. I had previously either drawn them using straight lines, or by starting with a rectangle and then deleting nodes. Both methods always seemed a bit cumbersome to me and I was pretty excited when I figured out there is an easier way! Perhaps I am the only one out there that struggled with this, but I doubt it. So…. here’s a little”mini tutorial” for anyone that is looking for a solution to this issue.

First, click on the Star/Polygon Tool which is located on the Tool Box Bar on the left side of your screen. Now go up to your Tools Control Bar at the top of the screen. You’ll see in the screen capture below that I have selected Star. However, when making a triangle, it doesn’t matter whether it is set to Star or Polygon. The only thing you need to be concerned with is setting the Corners to 3.

Now you are ready to use the Star/Polygon Tool to draw your triangle. You will get a triangle with 3 equal sides and angles. The triangle will have one node that you can drag to change the position or size of the triangle. If you want to change the shape of your triangle, you’ll need to convert it to a Path.

Addendum: cleversomeday, over on the Inkscape Cutting Design forum has another great idea:

“Another tip for triangles. If you need one with specific measurements and/or angles you can use the dialog under Extensions>Render>Triangles.

Great for math teachers!”

Thanks Kay for the tip!

For more inspiration from Kay (cleversomeday), check out her blog by clicking the link above or looking for her posts on the Inkscape Cutting Design forum.